Social Media Marketing Strategy of Pepsi

Pepsi is one of the leading brands in the soda industry. Rivalled only by Coca Cola, it is a global brand with products selling across more than 200 countries. The company has a large product portfolio that  includes 22 Billion dollar brands or brands that  earn more than a billion per year in revenue. Apart from several excellent flavors that  Pepsi has brought to the market, it is known for its investment in marketing and promotions. Its global distribution network has helped it maintain an extensive global presence. The soda industry is marked by intense competition. Apart from Coca Cola, there are some other rivals too in the market which make soda beverages and energy drinks.  Due to intense competition, both Coca Cola and Pepsi spend aggressively on marketing and R&D. While both are known for their excellent marketing, now the battle between the two has reached the social media channels as well. Social media has become a great tool for marketing as well as customer engagement.  From Facebook to Twitter and Instagram, all these networking channels have taken marketing to the next level.  Pepsi is an excellent marketer. Let us have a look over how it has used social media to create a global presence and to connect with its global audience.

Facebook Strategy:

Main Facebook Account – @PepsiIndia

Number of Facebook followers – 38 million

Pepsi is among some of the most well known brands that spend a lot on marketing. However, you will find not highly interactive on the Facebook than several other big brands. It has used Facebook mainly for promotions and to run marketing campaigns. Facebook provides attractive reach which is clear from the high number of followers that Pepsi has on Facebook.  Pepsi keeps running several campaigns from time to time on Facebook. These promotional campaigns mainly aim to increase sales. Pepsi’s strategy has mostly been to create brand recall and to pull customers back. In terms of customer connection, the brand has not shown much effort. The number of likes, shares and comments on each of these posts is not very large and at an average remains around hundred.  The social media managers of Pepsi respond to some comments and mainly when necessary. Apart from that you will not find them making any efforts to engage the users through active communication. Facebook offers some great features to be used for customer engagement. Several brands use it for  customer service, to respond to grievances as well as engage users by communicating with them directly. In case of Pepsi even if customer engagement level is not very high, the brand has achieved high level exposure which seems to be its primary target through social media. Each of the posts receives thousands of views which is good for creating brand recognition and raise awareness.

Twitter Strategy:

Main Account – @ Pepsi

Number of followers: 3.02 Million

Twitter is also a a great marketing tool for social media marketers. Twitter’s audience size is smaller as compared to Facebook. Despite that  it is one of the most favorite networks of social media networks. It offers some excellent features for marketing and especially real time marketing. Twitter is also a great channel for customer engagement. Most brands use several twitter accounts to reach out to their customers and engage them. Pepsi is rather an aggressive marketer that uses Twitter account mostly to run ad campaigns and promote its products. However, it does not flood its  Twitter account with tweets. Mostly, it is like a Tweet a day to keep its audience engaged. Twitter allows to post videos, pictures and other updates. It is most suited for real time marketing and to promote events. Pepsi has used several accounts on Twitter dedicated to its various markets and products. Twitter has several special benefits. Some of its features are quite outstanding and make it a distinct platform. It is why Twitter has never been overshadowed by the presence of Facebook. Social media managers can use this platform to grow the effectiveness of their marketing strategy. However, it also requires careful communication and excellent skills to engage the customers. Major brands tread cautiously on social media so as to make it an engaging experience. Otherwise overuse of social media can also leave a bad taste. A well planned strategy helps make social media communication effective. If you are a social media marketer, you would not like to waste Twitter’s potential. However, your strategy must be clear and focused and you must know what you are trying to achieve. Pepsi uses this platform too to attract customers and for brand recall.

Instagram Strategy:

Instagram is a favourite of the fashion and food marketers. Pepsi has several accounts on Instagram some of which are dedicated to specific markets and some to specific products. Instagram is an attractive channel for marketing to your audience through photos and videos. The main account of Pepsi on Instagram has 1.4 Million followers. While Instagram may not have as large audience as Facebook, it still offers great engagement features. In Pepsi’s case, its engagement level on Instagram is higher than on Facebook. Each of the posts by Pepsi is liked by thousands and on several of them the number of responses and comments also runs in hundreds. This shows a very good engagement level. Pepsi does not interactively communicate a lot with followers on its social media posts. However, if the engagement level is high then it is a sign of the brand’s popularity. Pepsi uses Instagram for posting photos and videos. Instagram can be an effective platform for running photo based marketing campaigns and a great one for engaging fans.

YouTube Strategy:

Main Account – @ Pepsi.

Number of followers – Higher than 8 Lacs (0.8 Million).

YouTube is the favourite channel for video marketers. The reason that YouTube’s popularity as a marketing channel has grown is because now every brand has a video marketing strategy. Video’s are an important marketing tool for marketers in the twenty first century. Based on how they can churn excitement and create demand, every major brand is using them for audience engagement. While YouTube may not be a suitable channel for customer service, it still is an attractive channel for marketing and customer engagement. Pepsi aggressively uses videos for marketing. They are almost an inseparable part of its promotions strategy. Like the other channels, Pepsi has multiple accounts on YouTube too. Its main account has around 8 lac followers. Pepsi publishes videos regularly; sometimes several every week. These videos are mostly promotional in nature. It has traditionally used celebrities for the promotion of its products. From singers to other local artists and actors and actresses, as well as sports stars, all have features in pepsi’s video ads. YouTube provides exposure to a large audience. A very large audience made up of youth mainly uses YouTube to satisfy its craving for music and entertainment. Several of Pepsi’s videos have received millions of views. Its ‘Uncle Drew’ series was especially very successful and some have received several million views. Chapter one of this series has received 53 million views, chapter 2  has 14 million views, chapter 3 has 23 million and chapter 4, 16 million. These stats are quite attractive which shows strong video marketing skills. Whichever platform you are marketing through, you need to have a string content strategy. After all it is the content that decides the level of engagement.

Google Plus:

Main page – @ Pepsi

Number of followers: Higher than 1.4 Million

Google Plus is also a nice social media platform for marketers. A brand can have access to a large pool of followers on Google Plus too. Pepsi has several accounts on this platform too like the other channels. Its number of followers in its main account is higher than 1.4 million.  Google plus has some attractive features that make it attractive for promotions. Apart from comment and like (plus one) features, it can be an attractive channel for communicating with the followers. Brands can also use these features to service customer grievances. Pepsi has mainly utilized it as a promotional tool and makes regular posts to its fans.

Other social media channels:

Pepsi is a well known marketer. It has utilized the potential of social media very well for promotions. However, the level of engagement and communication between the brand and its followers can be higher. Pepsi can use it to churn more excitement and to strengthen the connection between the brand and its fans. Apart from the famous four Facebook, twitter, Instagram and YouTube, there are other social media platforms that can help with marketing. Even if all of these are not for promotions, they still help connect with fans and engage followers. Linked In too can help connect with a very large audience. This platform is mainly for professionals and employers but can grant exposure to some tools that are good for branding. Pepsi has used this platform successfully. It makes regular posts through Linked In. It has more than 2 million followers on this platform. After all it is a major employer globally. Other image sharing sites like Pinterest and Flickr also provide attractive marketing options. However, on these platforms, it is mainly he fans who make posts for the brand. Pinterest allows people to save and share pictures from online resources. Pepsico has an account on Pinterest with around 3K followers. However, apart from its own account, the pictures saved by its fans also provide strong exposure. On Flickr, it’s mainly the fans who save pictures related to Pepsi. In terms of brand awareness, Pepsi is already in a strong position. Use of social media helps it maximize the impact.

Sources:

Social Media accounts of Pepsi including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram & Others.